First Signs

The sound of shouting and metal scraping could be heard down the hallway in a vast room with weapon racks as high as the ceiling, tapestries and stained glass depicting past glories for the legions' achievements over a million worlds. 

Space marines are giants among men usually standing at an impressive 2.7 to 3 metres tall, giving them the option to crush enemies with ease, not taking a multitude of weapons designed to kill their enemies from afar or up close.  As two battle brothers fought for training and bragging rights to boost their reputations as warriors of the Sons of Horus, "Come on Acraius, you can hit faster than that, what happened to all that vigour from the last battle?"  Zadakel said with a smirk across his face showing his way of taunting an enemy. 

"Don't be too blind to what is happening around you Zadakel or you might end up dying earlier than you expect" Acraius managed to defend against an unending tide of attacks then at the last moment swept his leg under Zadakel like a tree severed from its roots.  Acraius though proud of his fighting prowess, knew he had to win fast for battles of attrition are not to be had before a serious engagement. 

Before Zadakel could argue about him having not fully recovered and would have won but let him win instead, the thunderous steps of power armour could be heard in the distance like a storm rolling over distant mountains, the doors to the arena slid open revealing a space marine standing in his glorious Mark IV power armour also known as "Maximus Power Armour" the best armour any space marine could hope to wear, donned seals of his achievements, oaths and a golden trim similar design to his Ultramarine brothers but instead of eagles, wolves prowled his armour, his helmet bore a horizontal crest that was the colour of deep red, at his waist was his famed power sword The Last Fang gifted by a space wolves Captain for his prowess in close quarters combat, the space wolves Captain said it was made from the spirit of a giant white wolf with golden eyes. 

The giant space marine standing an impressive 3.4 metres tall stood at the door and none other than Lieutenant Titerus of the 10th company said "Time to gear up, we're entering the orbit of Isstvan III". 

Everyone who was there listened carefully to the lieutenant's words. As I walked out of the training room I felt uneasy and upset because I had just come from my Captains quarters and he told me to stay on board the ship to help with organising our forces for a full invasion of Isstvan I asked myself "Why did Loken want me to wait on the ship, It can't be just to manage our reinforcements." Thinking more on the issue was annoying, to say the least, I started to walk through the passages of this mighty war machine, listening to the sound of heavy footsteps and being able to accurately guess where they would be going, for I had walked the same path a thousand times before the hangar. 

Oh, I enjoyed the sight of seeing our strike craft in action being able to wipe out troves of enemy squads in a run as I walked through the hangar to start my task given to me by Captain Loken, but as I noticed the soldiers that were fighting on the ground were not from the first company or any other Legion for the honour of taking and defeating the capital city was to go our best among the respective legions. Still, instead, we sent parts of from every legion "The Death Guard, The World Eaters, The Emperor's Children and The Sons Horus, we also held back many of our stronger units such as our Deimos Predator tanks, Landraiders and our Titan war machines.

What is even stranger as I went into more of our records I started to notice more discrepancies like other companies or squads being outfitted more often than others. Moments later two space marines from the 1st company "Catulan Reaver Squad" approached "Lieutenant you are being summoned to the bridge by the request of 1st company Captain, please follow us. " said one of the space marines wearing their signature black armour, this is no coincidence that they show up as I found evidence of something at play, maybe I will find answers to my questions from Abaddon himself.

"Lead the way" I said with calm and focus. As we were passing through the passageways towards the bridge I spotted a tech priest of Mars guided by one of our techmarines and guarded by two Skitarii rangers, as we passed them he seemed to hold something close to his chest, like some datapad, as we continued to walk the passage one of the Reavers spoke "pay them no mind" he said without turning around, I replied to him "what if I do mind?"

We continued to walk in silence with no reply. The air around was feeling tense, now this is concerning, to say the least. Looking more closely at my escorts they were carrying all their weapons and looked to be ready for anything so much so that if the air blew on them too hard they would try to cut, slice and to some extent throw a krak grenade. By the time this was all happening my brothers on the ground had already taken many of their objectives the governor's seat of power was taken by the "The Emperor's Children", the traitors of the Imperium's vile house of religion "The Siren Hold" was taken out and captured by Captain Loken and Captain Torgaddon. Taken from my thoughts of how the battle is progressing I received an encrypted message from Saul Tarvitz, 10th company Captain of "The Emperor's Children" which he said was distressing "There about to bomb the surface…"